Kenworth Service & Sibling Weekend

Currently Larry and I are sitting at a Kenworth Dealer in Grand Rapids MI to have a oil change and check up on the truck. One of these things that you planned on doing all summer and finally getting around to it when it's almost time to leave. You'd think we'd learn. This place could be used as a summer home, lounge has huge recliners, flat screen TV, rest room, separate shower and even a laundry room. Next door is a kitchen. Since the place is open 24/7 a person could settle right in here.

Last weekend was our sibling weekend at Bob and Diane's at Houghton Lake. The weather could of been better but it didn't stop us from having a great time. Saturday morning Larry and Stint picked us up around 6:30am. We did a drive thru at the McDonalds down the road for coffee and a breakfast sandwich than hit the road for the 2 1/2 hr drive to Bobs. We got there and shortly after Nadene and Mike came over from their cottage at Lake George. Diane had some bakery goodies that we had to try out than us girls took off to do some shopping and the guys headed out on the lake for fishing. We normally don't shop quite as long as we did that day but we had a mission to find the right container for Nadene's kitchen utensils so that always makes shopping interesting. Once we found the right one it was time to call it quits and head back to Diane's house. By the sounds of it we had a whole lot better shopping than the guys did on fishing.

The weather had cleared up some so we decided to take the pontoon over to the Comfort Inn for dinner which is about 8 miles or so going by water. The dinner was really good and we had the waitress take this picture of the siblings.

The restaurant is really nice and the windows behind us overlooks the lake.

Here's our family - starting from the left - Bob, Diane, Larry, me, Mike, Nadene, Larry (twin) and Stint. Summer is always busy with family and things but we always find one weekend for us to get together.


So now it's time to head back to Bob's house and guess what the weather changed while we were inside. The wind picked up and it looked like the rain could come at any time. The ride back sure was interesting with the rough water but Bob got us home in good shape. But to pass the time and keep us entertained my brother always comes thru.

As you can see the water was a little rocky so it was nice to get back to Bob's place.

That's it for now. We're still at the KW Dealer, so far we are only 2 1/2 hrs pass the appointment

time and the truck is still sitting outside. Going to be a long long day. Till next time.  ..................

Cooler Temps & A Sad Community

The cold front went through late Sunday and the heat index went from 100 to 81 within a few hours. I was sitting outside with niece/nephew around 8pm and when I came inside it was actually warmer inside than outside. So air conditioners went off and door/windows went open. I watched the local news the next morning and it was 61 degrees, hmmm 40 degrees difference, thought it would be a sweat shirt & long pants morning but decided to be brave and stay with the shorts. I've noticed this summer that the heat seems to be harder to take, high 80s - low 90's use to be a nice summer day. Well that morning I walked outside and thought how wonderful it felt out there - and it was only 70 degrees. Am I becoming one of "those" people than can't take the heat and hide inside under cover of the air conditioner? Or only goes shopping at the mall because you only have to dash from car to lots of stores one time. Or grocery shopping only done under darkness of early morning so you can get back home before the sun comes up. Noooo, I refuse to become one of "those" people and will fight this to the bitter end. I swear on a stack of thermostats "not" to turn the air on until it reaches at least 90 degrees in the house, to do my shopping in the middle of the day and have all happy hours under the shade of my awning know matter what the temperature is.

The above is all subject to change without prior notice and at the discretion of the author.

Monday morning Larry and I walked into town to show respect for one of our towns youth that was killed in Afghanistan last week.

Two of the fire departments ladder trucks flew our flag high

above the hundreds of people waiting
to honor this young mans arrival home.

We didn't know this young person but like others there, there wasn't a dry eye to be seen. The street was lined as far as you could see with people holding flags of all sizes and vehicles pulled to the side of the road with people standing beside their cars as the motorcade passes . I guess that's one of the greatest things about living in a small community, standing together as a whole to help an unknown neighbor. Till next time......................

Quiet Week & More Flooding Pictures

We've done absolutely nothing this week. It's been pretty much hot and humid all week so we've been staying inside with the air conditioner running. So I've been reading friends blogs and enjoying what's going on where they are at.

I was just looking at some pictures and forgot that I had a couple of the flooding at the Bentsen State Park that we ride our bikes in down in TX. A friend David Cypcar sent us some pictures and others I copied from the Parks Facebook site. If you would like to see more go into their site on FB and check it out.

This is the picnic building about a quarter of a mile inside the park.

Another building that's on one of the circle drives
I took this picture last winter.
During the flooding
Guess there wasn't to many speeders on this road.
Another picture of the speed limit sign a few days later
One last picture of the road.

It should be interesting to see what the park looks like when we get back this fall. There's one thing I'm wondering about. Where did all of Natures Critters go? Especially the snakes? Already told Larry he will be checking out shed out before I step foot in it. But there are lots of Javalina's in the park so I'm wondering what high ground they moved too.

But I especially would like to know where this guy is?
I copied the picture from the FB site but this guy has been seen many times sunning on the ledge that is at the entrance to the park.

Guess that's it for now. Cooler temp's suppose to come by Monday so it will be good to open the house back up. Till next time.....................................

Happy Birthday Anissa!!!

First I want to wish our Grand-daughter Anissa a very special 16th Birthday. I was so lucky to be there when Anissa was born but what I remember the most were those huge brown eyes staring at everything around her like she was thinking - WOW - so this is what it's like in the day light.

Of course Grandma has to share some pictures so bear with me.

So here is our beautiful 16 yr old grand-daughter that is very special to her gr-pa and gr-ma.

Saturday was the Island Art Fair here in town so Larry and I walked to town to check things out. Every year the town puts this on and they say there is usually 15,000 people walking around. There are vendors along main street and down on the Island.

Here's my SIL Diane and Candace her granddaughter selling their homemade necklaces.

Here are pictures of the vendors on the Island

And for anyone wanting a leisure ride down the river there was this

That's it for now. The weather guy is promising us hot and humid temps this week. So it looks like the air conditioners will get a work out. Till next time....................

A trip to MOO-ville

Bet that heading got your attention. Yesterday was grandson day so we decided it was a good day to make a short trip out to the country to MOO-ville Creamery. We drove pass there last year thinking sometime we need to stop and one of the nieces posted pictures of it on FB which reminded us.

So here's a few pictures of our trip to MOO-ville. As you can see

Darrius enjoyed petting the animals

Feeding them

Making funny faces
But the best part - Bubble Gum Ice Cream

Another nice Darrius day & more pictures on our Webshot page. Even tho by 3pm I'm looking at the clock a little more often we will miss these summer days when we leave here in Sept.

The week has been fairly quiet and we are glad we had the air conditioners the first of the week. But after we got back from our walk this morning I opened all the windows and door to let some fresh air in.

Guess that's it for now. Hope everyone's having a great day. Till next time........................

And than there was POWER

Yes Monday came and so did the Electric Company. Here is Larry, David (nephew) and 2 of the crew guys plotting the plan.

Shortly after that truck arrived two others pulled in.
(the second one is behind this one)

Plans were changed as this crew wasn't thrilled about having to cut the center out of a tree that the wires were going through so a call was made back to the office. An engineer came out and it was decided that they would put a taller pole up so lines could go above the tree (guess they figured that tree wasn't going to grow any taller). Another waiting period while a different pole was brought here.

But finally it arrived and the work begins with the auger digging a new hole.
(old post stays until cable line removed)
Unfortunately they had to removed one of the bushes where the guide wires were.
Now it's time to set the new pole. Made me just a little nervous having all this going on so close to my home. But Larry was kind of hoping the pole would tip just enough to damage the roof of the trailer as it needs to be replaced.

Finally the pole is set and the new transformer is being attached.

About now I'm thinking "YES" won't be long now. But nooooo, all of a sudden they were packing up and backing out of the driveway. NO- PLEASE- COME BACK. Yes it's after 4pm but we are so close. How could they leave me this close to having the use of our air conditioners with a heat index of 94 degrees. Larry said they would be back the next day and finish but I really didn't believe him. I just knew we would have one of those great Michigan storms that takes out half the States electricity and we wouldn't see these guys again for weeks. So imagine my surprise when they pulled in early this morning (well early for them) and within a few hours they had the new wire run. First test - turning the down stairs air conditioner on. Kicked right on, so far so good, but now for the big test, turning the upstairs air on at the same time. YES - it worked - all is well in the Moore household.

OK, enough on the power problem. Hopefully you will never hear about it again.

That's it for now. I will leave you with one more picture. This week my brother and I had our 60th birthday. Actually he turned 60 six minutes before I did but who's counting. The four of us (brother Larry B. & SIL Stint) went out to lunch on Sunday than back to their place for cake.

This was waiting for us.

Now know one can tell me I never put any embarrassing pictures of myself on this blog. But at least I get to share it with my twin.

Till next time..................................

Ancestry - Air Card - Flooding Pictures

Have any of you ever wondered about your ancestors and what they went through. I think about this quite often only because I really enjoying researching our families to see what kind of dirt I can dig up (get it -ancestors-dirt -dig up--- sometimes I crack myself up) But anyway I’ve found some interesting things, some sad - many that have died young from fevers or in childbirth - some shocking - ggg-grandfather that was convicted of murder and sent to prison only to escape in 1860 & never found - some exciting - weeks of crossing the ocean to start a new life. I have many sites that I’ve been able to find information on and if any of you are interested in these sites send me an email and will forward them to you. But beware - you may think this is a hobby you can just work on during rainy afternoons but it is addictive. Especially if you come across that black sheep in the family that you didn’t no about, you just want to keep on digging. Pretty soon you get the reputation of “chasing dead people”.

Speaking of rainy afternoons, that is what we are having right now. It’s actually nice, we’ve needed some rain and there’s a cold front right behind it. It has been warm and muggy the last few days again and since we STILL haven’t seen the electric company we seldom use the air conditioner. Larry did call them again and talked with someone higher up. We have a schedule date on next Monday (1st) so hopefully they will show up. One of the poles they will be replacing is pretty darn close to the back of our trailer so I’m thinking Monday might be a good day for me to go away. Things like large poles falling on my home do tend to make me a little nervous and Larry telling me we’d get a new trailer from the electric company really doesn’t make me feel any better.

The new Verizon Air Card came today. The old one gave up the ghost (just can't get off the ancestry wave) last week while we were up to brothers place. Luckily we were able to get on nephews, not really sure what life is like anymore without our internet but I’m sure I don’t want to find out. We’ve become very dependent on these computers from finding out what is happening around the world down to just how far that thunderstorm is from our house. Larry has certain things he reads every day as I do and the most of them aren’t the same. That’s why we both have our own laptops and we are not good at sharing. So you can be sure of one thing, when a computer dies in this household it is replaced within a matter of hours.

As you probably can tell there isn’t too much to write about this week. I have one picture of the flooding down in Mission that one of the residents there has posted on FB. This is Chimney RV Park that is a couple of miles east of us.

Found this online of the Clubhouse

This was from FB, a little blurry but you can still see the damage

That's it for today. Tomorrow is little dude day. Not sure what we'll do with him. They have a kids day on Thursdays at the local movie theater so if I can talk gr-pa into it we may take him down there. For $2.00 (& that's the everyday price) it's a cheap afternoon in air conditioning.

Till next time.......................................